With two Edgefield shows, the Decemberists close a long, successful chapter

Ross William Hamilton, The OregonianThe Decemberists on Friday night at Edgefield, the band's final show for some time.

The
backdrop of fir trees reaching toward the sky that has travelled the
world with the Decemberists this year was, as singer Colin Meloy
admitted, redundant in a home setting. In fact, the Decemberists’ tree
line blocked the actual tree line.

“But it’s nice to have them when you’re in Austin,” Meloy said.

With
shows Thursday and Friday at Edgefield, the Decemberists
wrapped eight months of touring and move into what's been termed a
hiatus of indefinite length. “If we don’t see you tomorrow night, it
might be a while,” Meloy told Thursday’s sold-out crowd.

He’s
got books to write. The first, a young adult novel called “Wildwood,”
illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis, will be released Tuesday. Two
more are definite. In those terms, then, the shows weren’t just shows.
They weren’t just the last two dates at the end of a tour. They closed a
chapter in the Decemberists’ story.

With
a lot of smiles, shared glances, and a little melancholy, the two
nights -- four hours total, 30 songs touching every point along the way
-- were a fitting celebration of a band whose popularity has grown over
the past decade at a similar clip as Portland's musical reputation. And
those things aren’t unrelated.

On
the strength of tight, catchy, folk-rock songs, “The King Is Dead,”
released in January, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s albums chart. Its
opening numbers -- nearly 100,000 copies sold -- weren’t historically
overwhelming, but then hardly anything in the record business is
anymore.

As
near as anyone could figure, it was the first No. 1 record for a
Portland band. Modest Mouse scored a No. 1 with 2007’s “We Were Dead
Before the Ship Even Sank,” but they’re a relocated-to-Portland band.
There’s a difference.

Aside
from from playing in front of that image of firs, the Decemberists’
backstage decor this year included photos of fields and flowers, a
beaver and the state flag. Each night, mayor Sam Adams’ voice introduced
the band.

“This is so Portland,” one audience member said Friday.

It
is, and the Decemberists are -- in the bookishness of the songs, and in
breadth of their abilities and assuredness of their creative
independence. In case anyone had arrived Thursday having heard only “The
King Is Dead,” the band opened the first encore with “The Tain,” the 18
½-minute epic take on an Irish myth that was released as an EP.

“And that’s something we do, too,” Meloy said.

They
opened Friday’s show with the 12 ½-minute “The Island,” from 2006’s
“The Crane Wife.” Songs about homoerotic World War I entanglement (“The
Soldiering Life”) gave way to songs about the 1984 soccer season in
Helena, Mont. (“The Sporting Life”). Songs about espionage, and nautical
mishaps and death and destruction (and more personal subjects) filled
out the sets. It remains a unique achievement that so many people will
bounce and shout for a song that includes the death of four children,
three murdered by their father (“The Rake’s Song”).

Ross William Hamilton, The OregonianDecemberists Jenny Conlee and John Moen during Friday night's show at Edgefield.

In
the New York Times recently, Stephen Malkmus, another Portlander, was
talking about his new record, “Mirror Traffic,” and the idea of
nostalgia for the 1990s, which is when he earned his fame with the band
Pavement. “I don’t know what really traumatic thing happened in the
’90s,” he said. “It’s probably going to seem like this ideal time to a
lot of people, eventually.”

The
first Decemberists record, “Castaways and Cutouts,” was released on the
Portland label Hush in 2002, from there they went to Kill Rock Stars
and, eventually, to Capitol Records for their last three releases.

They’ve
existed in a time where it often feels like nothing has gone right, a
much-less-than-ideal era. So no matter how arcane the language, or how
Victorian the costuming, the sense of conflict and dread that has
infused so many songs has been vital and present and modern.

And
they’re an exceptionally good band. Drummer John Moen, guitarist Chris
Funk, bassist Nate Query and keyboardist/accordian player Jenny Conlee
can play anything Meloy can imagine. Conlee -- who has missed most of
the last leg of this tour battling breast cancer -- was enthusiastically
welcomed back to the stage both nights.

According
to Nielsen SoundScan, “The King Is Dead” has moved 275,000 copies since
its release. This tour has taken the band to Europe once, around the
United States twice and seen them highlighted at major festivals like
Bonnaroo, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Sasquatch! and the
Newport Folk Festival.

It’d
be an upset if the record doesn’t land on the pile of the best-of lists
that populate December. This has probably been the band’s
highest-profile year to date, and they’ve earned it, and after nearly a
decade, six full-length albums, EPs and a lot of time on the road,
they’ve earned a break.

“I
expect we’ll see you guys soon enough,” Meloy said on Friday, before
closing with “I Was Meant For The Stage,” from 2003’s “Her Majesty The
Decemberists.”

It’s
open-ended, though. Minus Meloy, the rest of the band backed
author/songwriter Wesley Stace on the new John Wesley Harding
record out in October. They’ll all tour with him in November, a run
that includes a Nov. 11 stop at the Aladdin Theater.

Conlee,
Funk and Query will re-start Black Prairie, their bluegrass-and-more
string band that includes guitarist Jon Neufeld and violinist Annalisa
Tornfelt. They’ve got a Musicfest NW date and some October plans as well
as they write a new record.

Meloy will write his books and, when he’s ready, hopefully he’ll get the band back together.

“And as I take my final bow,” he sang in that last song, “was there ever any doubt?”

And
as the song crashed to its finish, a flourish of busted strings and
noise, he said, “We’ll see you somewhere down the road.” One by one, the
Decemberists exited stage right.

The Setlists

Thursday, Aug. 251. The Infanta2. The Sporting Life3. Calamity Song4. Down By The Water w/Peter Buck5. Billy Liar6. Apology Song7. Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect8. Won’t Want For Love (Margaret In the Taiga)9. Don't Carry It All10. This Is Why We Fight11. 16 Military Wives12. O Valencia! (with Dracula’s Daughter)Encore13. The Tain 14. The Mariner’s Revenge SongSecond Encore15. June Hymn

Friday, Aug. 261. The Island2. Calamity Song3. Down By The Water w/Peter Buck4. Rise To Me5. Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) w/Laura Veirs6. The Bagman’s Gambit7. The Soldiering Life8. The Sporting Life9. The Rake’s Song10. Rox In The Box11. 16 Military Wives12. The Chimbley SweepEncore13. The Raincoat Song14. Mariner’s Revenge SongSecond Encore15. I Was Meant For The Stage